Janez Drnovšek

Janez Drnovšek
Drnovšek during a visit to Poland in 2006
2nd President of Slovenia
In office 22 December 2002 – 23 December 2007
Prime Minister	Anton Rop Janez Janša
Preceded by	Milan Kučan
Succeeded by	Danilo Türk
2nd, 4th Prime Minister of Slovenia
In office 14 May 1992 – 7 June 2000
President	Milan Kučan
Preceded by	Lojze Peterle
Succeeded by	Andrej Bajuk
In office 30 November 2000 – 19 December 2002
President	Milan Kučan
Preceded by	Andrej Bajuk
Succeeded by	Anton Rop
12th President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia
In office 15 May 1989 – 15 May 1990
Prime Minister	Ante Marković
Preceded by	Raif Dizdarević
Succeeded by	Borisav Jović
11th Secretary General of the Non-Aligned Movement
In office 7 September 1989 – 15 May 1990
Preceded by	Robert Mugabe
Succeeded by	Borisav Jović
Personal details
Born	(1950-05-17)17 May 1950 Celje, Yugoslavia (now Slovenia)
Died	23 February 2008(2008-02-23) (aged 57) Zaplana, Slovenia
Political party	Movement for Justice and Development (2006–2008)
Other political affiliations	League of Communists (Before 1990) Liberal Democracy (1990–2006)
Spouse(s)	Majda Drnovšek (Divorced 1980)
Children	2
Alma mater	University of Ljubljana University of Maribor
Signature

Janez Drnovšek (Slovene pronunciation: [ˈjàːnɛz dəɾˈnɔ́ːwʃək]; 17 May 1950 – 23 February 2008) was a Slovenian liberal politician, President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia (1989–1990), Prime Minister of Slovenia (1992–2002) and President of Slovenia (2002–2007).

Drnovšek was born in Celje and was raised in the small town of Kisovec in the Municipality of Zagorje ob Savi, where his father Viktor was the local mine chief and his mother Silva was a homemaker. Drnovšek graduated from the University of Ljubljana with a degree in economics in 1973. Meanwhile, he worked as an intern at a Le Havre bank. In 1975, at the age of 25, he became chief financial officer at SGP Beton Zagorje, a construction company. Two years later he became, for one year, an economic adviser at the Yugoslav embassy in Cairo, Egypt. He defended his master's thesis in 1981, and in 1986, he defended his dissertation in 1986 at the Faculty of Economics and Business at the University of Maribor. In 1982, he became head of the local branch of Ljubljana Bank in his home region of the Central Sava Valley in central Slovenia. In 1986 he was chosen to be a delegate at the Slovenian Republic Assembly (parliament) and also the Chamber of Republics and Provinces of the Yugoslav parliament.

In 1989 Stane Dolanc, the Slovenian representative to the collective presidency of Yugoslavia, retired. The Slovenian Communist Party, aware of upcoming democratisation, decided to organize elections between two candidates for the position. Drnovšek, until then rather unknown to the public, defeated Marko Bulc, the Party's preferred candidate. The Communist leaderships of other Yugoslav republics did not agree with this new way of selecting the representative to the Collective Presidency, so the Slovenian Republic Parliament had to confirm the result of the elections. Drnovšek served as chairman of the Collective Presidency from 1989 until 1990. While he was chairman of the presidency, he was also chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement and the commander of the Yugoslav People's Army. Until the collapse of the Communist regime he was an active member of the Communist Party. After the democratic changes in Slovenia, the country seceded from Yugoslavia. Following the Ten Day War, Drnovšek used his position in the Collective Presidency to help mediate the Brioni Agreement and to negotiate a peaceful withdrawal of Yugoslav army from Slovenia.